Crafting with Kids

This weekend, I had a brilliant idea to try tie dyeing with my son, the Warlord. We watched a few videos on youtube to get him all amped up. I highly recommend Colorful Steve. No bells and whistles, just dives right in. Perfect for the child impatient with a ton of wordy explanations.

I ended up going to Joann for supplies and bought a kit with primary colors and soda ash. Then, after washing and soaking our shirts in soda ash for 20 minutes, we got ourselves dirty.  I didn’t have a rack around, so we tried to work fast to avoid pooling under our shirts.  About a million paper towels were used to this end.  Next time, I promise to be more eco friendly!

The Warlord’s shirts turned out awesome.

Max’s is pretty great too, a red and black peace sign for the anarchist pacifist.

I love this one of mine. This was a white shirt from my closet that had gotten a bit dingy in the underarms. I’ve tried every trick to get it out, but nope. Tie dye to the rescue!  I used a mix of techniques: folding for the arms, spiral center, scrumbles around the spiral.

Pardon the mess. It is self-perpetuating.

This last one, I’m not completely thrilled with. I think it turned out a bit too dark and the peace sign bled a bit too much. This is not jersey material, but a very lightweight woven and I think that might have had something to do with it. I’ll still wear the crap out of it though, I’m sure.

Try tie dye with your kids! It’s a fun way to spend the afternoon, and it can be educational as well.  We learned about color mixing and even scratched the surface of geometric translations and symmetry. Good nerdy fun without the kid even knowing it!

Wanna Play Videogames?

I’ve caught that plastic canvas bug that seems to be going around. I was encouraged by friends and inspired to make a three dimensional version of my favorite character from one of my favorite shows of all time:  ADVENTURE TIME!  BMO (or Beemo) is just the cutest little guy ever in the world and such a sweet character.  Plus, being rectangular, he is PERFECT for a first plastic canvas project!  I charted him out in macstitch and got started.  I’m using Red Heart Soft for the body and screen colors, but managed to find the rest of the colors in my stash.  They aren’t perfect, but they will work.

Here is the completed front piece!

I’m so in love.  I have charts for the sides and back ready and waiting for me tackle!  I’m planning to do his arms and legs out of i-cord.  I might have to buy yarn for that because I don’t have a suitable color.  I could use the blue in the circle button possibly, but it’s not quite “right.”  The plan is to line this and turn it into a little bag that I can carry around with me at ACen.  (For those not in the con scene, ACen is short for Anime Central.  It’s one of the largest anime conventions in the US and is held in Rosemont, IL.  I have attended every year since 2002!).  I’m actually planning a BMO gijinka cosplay this year, but I haven’t done much for it yet.  I need to get crackin’ since ACen weekend is fast approaching (May 16-18!)  Once I get some pieces finished for it, I will definitely post them!